Legislative Council. Saturday, December 23, 1848.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 276, 20 January 1849, Page 3

Legislative Council. Saturday, December 23, 1848.

The Council met at three o'clock. AH the Mem bers were present. His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief opened the proceedings by reading the following reply to the address of the Legislative Council :— I feel much pleasure in complying with the withes of the Legislative Council, as expiessed in their addresi of the 22« d instant, by id foi ming them, 1. That I have reported it to Her Majeity's G ivernment, as my opinion, that a complete syste n of repretentative government, of the form altermentnned, may with safety be introduced into the whole of the New Zealand Islands, at the date wheu the act suspending the Constitution recently conferred upon these Islands expires. 2. That I have recommended that, at that date, a general assembly should be constituted for the whole Islands, consisting of a legislative council composed of persons summoned thereto by Her Mnjesty ; and of an assembly to be composed of representatives, returned by the several provinces into which New Zealand may be divided, in such proportio is as the European population of each province may bear to the European population of the whole Islands, in so nearly ai these several amounts of population can be ascertained. 3. That 1 hats further recommended that a legislative council, comisting of one chamber, should be constituted in each province into winch New Zealand may be divided, to be composed o( persons summoned the reto by Her Majesty, and ot representatives elected thereto by the electors of the province in which chamber the Governor should not have a seat. 4. That I hrtvc recommended that the General Assembly for the New Zealand [slands should po$ s eis in full and ample powers of legMntion which are usuully conferred upon such assemblies • and that I have (urther recommended that the provincial legislative councils should have (until any alteration on the subject should be made by the General Assembly) the same power* of legislation a* are conferred ott the provincial legislative councils, by the ordinance which provides for the establishment of provincial legislative councils in the colony of New Zealand. 5. That I have recommended that those districts which drsire to have municipal corporations, should have such institution! bjs towed upon them ; but tha 1 the posieuion of the adva-.tatte of a provincial.leg'siatire council should in no way be made dependent upon a district accepting a municipal corporation, or not

on the contrnry, I have recommended that the reprc sentatives should he returned by diiect election, bott to the General Assembly and to the Provincial Legis. Idlive Councils. 6. That I have recommended that the right of votinj at elections should be exercised by such Europeai iubject3 of Her Maj -sty, as have either a small estatt of freehold in poiession, in lands or tenements situatec within the district for which inch vote is to be given or are householders within such district, occupying a dwelling of a small annual value ; and that 1 hav< further recommended that the right of voting at sucl elections should be exercised bv such Native subjects of the Queen as ere possessed of property, io Government securities, in vessels, or in tenements, within such district far which such vote is to be given, ol the clear value of two hundred pounds, or who maj be authorised to exercise i>uch vote by a certificate granted to them for the purpose by the Governor-ia-Chief. 7. In reference to that portion of the address to the Council, in which they request me to state whether I have it in contemplation to take any immediate steps in conjuntion with the C'onucil, to secure the adoption, at the earliest possible period, of the measure; which I propose,— l have to state that I shall b<j glad, in conjunction with this Council, to request Het Majesty's advisers to came the provisions of such a form of representative government, as I have detailed,, to be embodied in an act of Parliament, to taks effjet from the period which I have mined, or at such ear/iec date, as may for that purpose be proclaimed by the Governor-in-Chiuf. if in his opinion the state of the colony would justify him in so doing ;— but upon this latter peint I m anxious not to be considered as holding- oat any expectations which it may not be in my power to fulfil. His Excellency then stated that having read to the Council the general principles which he had recoom mended for the adoption of her Majesty's Government, he would proceed to give some explanation! of his reasons for that recommendation. The firit point was as to the time at which he recommended this sys* tern to be mt oduced. In doing thU it was almost necessary to travel back over the few last years in, order that the whole plan of policy which he hail adopted might be brougth completely under their observation. He would therefoie remiud honourable gentlemen that tbe period of his arrival was one of almost universal distress. In the North .the natives had been allowed to accumulate military stores. An unfortunate event had taken place at Wairau. There was open rebellion in the North, and there had been various skirmishes between the military and the natives. In the Southern Province the native population had been threatened that force would be used to diilodge them from the Hutt, which threat they not only treated with deruion, but even made preparations for resistance. It wns doubtful by what system a revenue could be raised ; various plans had been tried, and the, financial state of the country had been further embarrassed by the ls^ue of debentures which had been, made a legal tender, and which were in a depreciated state. Such, in brief, was the general aspect of the country at the time of his arrival. Each part of the colony had also its peculiar difficu ties. He would not go into detail, but would merely mention a few facts. The European population couH hardly be said to possess any land ; that which, had been purchased -from the native* they refused to give up, and in addition there was scarcely a European settler but had his own. disputes with the natives from these caua sj and further, a large body of n itives had congregated at Porirua. a place at tlut time almost inaccessible by landIn the No, th, in addition to the»e, other difficuhien prevailed almost worse than those he had named. la such a state of things he thereupon formed an exten« live plan, and one which would require a sene3 of years for its development. Oue port on of that plart was that the native population should be taxed as well as the European, and that they should be enriched and civilised. He concluded, therefore, that the duty of Great Britain was to establish an effective government in these islands, and to pay by foreign funds theco&ts of that Government until they should be in a position to bear such a char gi themselves. That plan had been approved and pursu-d by the Home Government. He would now state whet means he had taken to effect theie objects. In the fir»t placs he had applied himself to adjust the difference* between the Europeans and the natives. In the second place, it was necessary that Wellington should be connected with extensive tracts of lund and that works of magnitude «hould be completed without delay. Those works were not only immediately commenced, but native? weie employed in their execution wth a Tiew to civilizs them and make them look to the Government as benefactors, to accustom them to the use of European tool* and implements, and to enable them to bi ing their produce to market much betterthan before, and hereafter to supply labour to the colonists by their having been, accustomed to the use of European tools. Another point was the improvement of the lower class of the European population ; to teach the natives European labour and to work with Europeans by employing a large number of Europeans with the natives, and by employing Europeans on the roads leading to their own farms, to give them the means of improving and extending their cultivations. He could point to other features of his plans of policy bearing on the amalgamation of the two races, but he thought hehml stited enough to show his plan of policy, lie would appeal to honourable gentlenaeu whether that plan had not been effective. (Hear, hdar.) His plan also contained other and ulterior views. In the first place litt.e could be done unless they secured the rising generation, anil therefore a. plan of education was also necessary. That had been carried out to some extent in the North of the island, and he hoped soon to see it carried out also in the South. His main object was to show tlut the plan of policy which he had adopted required a series of yeais for its complete fulfilment. Th j se circumstances led to the belief that to attempt any change could onlylead to disastrous consequences. He would remark that at the present moment no oue could say what were the boundaries of the Provinces. He would also point out that the European pupulation, in proportion tv the native, whs small, but that every year would decrease that disproportion, and that if the present state of prosperity were Bjff red to continue, the influx oi immigration would cause that disproportion to cease, at the same time that the natives were becoming daily morte assimilated to Europeans. There was however one obvious defect in this plan of policy. It provided only for puttmjj N^w Ze iland into a stats of ordsr, but it provided nothing for the future Government of the country, and it was clear when the country fwtf been put into a state of perfect order and tranquillity, people might be disnaiistied with that form of Government which at present existed. It Was therefore pioper that some changes should be made in the existing form of Government, so that a representative system of Government might gradually be developed concur* rently with the plans for securing the prosperity oi the country which were going on s.o that when the prosperity w-is assured, a gturdntee for its maintenance might be aflbr led in the complete representative form of Gcftra vent which then existed. (To be continued.)